Ugly smoke

[bigun]

My other question for the day (the first is in woodsmokers) is it normal to have ugly smoke rolling for the first 5-10 minutes after I dump a fresh chimney of lit coals in the firebox? After that the smoke settles down and I have nice thin blue or even invisible smoke which I like, but I hate seeing the ugly white smoke for the few minutes after a reload, makes me concerned I am ruining my food. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[cinnamonkc]

I get it too. Just for the first few minutes after I reload.

 

[tmw611]

Richtee did a thread on preburning wood chunks prior to putting them in the coals. Pretty interesting tech stuff. Do a search on "preburn" and you should be able to find it. I did it for the first time this weekend and I did see somewhat less ugliness comming from the stack.

 

[chargrilled]

havent really ran into that, lump or briquetts?? Is the chimney ashed over pretty good before dumpin? Sometimes I get alittle white smoke when my chunks of wood get going but other than that, not really. At least I havent noticed

 

[bigun]

Using royal oak lump. usually throw a few chunks or whatever I am using for wood in the chimney to get it buring before dumping.

 

[meandmytwodogs]

Just the last two smokes I've done, I started preburning my coals in the chimmney until they stop smoking. I now get way less, almost no "ugly smoke".

 

[capt dan]

That may be the reason for the white smoke. I would put the chimney of lump in the box, and then after it catches good and the temps are stable, set a chunk or two off to the SIDE of the lit lump. The farther away from the hottest coals , the better. You want the seasoning wood to smolder slowly and add to the oak flavor of the lump.

Try it next time!

 

[michaelm]

I'm obviously a newb here, but isn't this kind of the opposite of what is sometimes suggested?
I was under the understanding that your seasoning wood wouldn't give off the "ugly" smoke if your fire (and wood) was hot enough.
I'm definitely not calling out your technique or anything, I'm just confused because I have read such differing info on this subject.
Maybe this is one of those more than one way to skin a cat situations...